putting on my KVR pads soon

[91CRXsiR]

my front brakes are almost all gone, the pad has about a milameter left, i placed an order with PDM racing and my KVR pads should be here on thursday, im going to put them on right away. my question is should i flush out all my old brake fluild and get some higher grade fluid?

if so what brand/kind is good?.

also my rotor is a tad warped what should i do?.. should i have it serviced or upgrade.. moneys kinda of tight right now ( isn't it always? ) so if possible i would like to hold off on that ... but we are talking about brakes.. and to me that the most important thing on the whole car..

so what should i do...?

oh i ordered the kevlar pads front and rear..

[LanceS13]

Look at the reservoir.  Is the fluid clear or dark brown.  If it's the latter, it definitely needs new fluid.  If it's fairly clear, it's not necessary, but it couldn't hurt either.
I use Valvoline Synthetic (Dot 4 I think).  I'd avoid Dot 5.
If the rotor isn't worn too bad, it might can be re-surfaced.  If not, a new rotor shouldn't cost more than $30...think mine were $24f/$19r from AutoZone.

[DSC]

Flushing fluid never hurts...especially if you've never done it.

I use castrol dot 4, was recommended by pdm and others, I'm not sure how much it really matters though. As long as its a brand name dot 4 (usually labeled dot 3/4 or something). Like lance said, don't get dot 5, IIRC it's silicone based and really nasty...for racing only and it's changed out every race.

If your rotor is actually warped, I wouldn't think resurfacing it would do anything but if your not sure, I'd take them to a shop to get looked at...resurfacing should cost about $10 per rotor. Your best off taking your rotors off at home and riding with a friend up to get them looked at, otherwise they'll try to charge you labor for removing/installing them and stuff. Also, when you remove them make sure you mark them somehow so you know where to put them back. You want to put each rotor back on the same hub, they'll tend to kind of form to eachother after time, causing them to not fit quite flush on a different hub.

Back to the fluids, I know you said money is tight, but if your going to drain it, I'd recommend picking up some speed bleeders while your there. You can get them cheaper ordering directly from russels but if your buying pads from pdm anyway, you'll save on shipping just getting them there. It'll be about $25 for the full set. I've got them, and absolutely love them. Super easy to install and even easier to use <img src="http://www.zilvia.net/f/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/thumbs-up.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=':thumbsup:'>

[240 2NR]

Well DOT 5 is silcone based, but the reason it's not recomended is that it is compressible, leading to a spongy feel. &nbsp;However it doesn't absorb moisture so replacement actually isn't an issue. &nbsp;It's more recomended for classic cars where the damaging effects of abrasive brake fluid would be damaging. &nbsp;

The reason race fluids sometimes need to be avoided is as DSC said. &nbsp;It's got super high dry temp boiling points, but sometimes very low wet points or will absorb moisture rapidly. &nbsp;Since racers will flush before a race its a non issue but for a street car that might go 5 years +, it's not a good idea. &nbsp;This is not true of all race fluids, but enough that you should know what you're getting before you buy it.

DOT 5.1 is basically the next step up over DOT 4 and is not silicone based.

Valvoline synpower and castrol GTLMA are both good and easy to find. &nbsp;I'm running ATE super blue, which is a good race fluid that's streetable.

Brake FAQ (http://www.zilvia.net/f/cgi-bin/ikonboard.cgi?act=ST;f=6;t=13058)